Letter from Ayiya

This is Ayiya and I am back! Just wanted to let you know how things are going in my life.

I am three months old now and have gained almost 3.5 pounds since Dr. John examined me for the first time in June. I weigh almost 10 pounds! And he said that my exam was pretty good today.

I have a hole in my heart called a Ventricular Septal Defect. The hole may close on its own…but if it doesn’t I may need heart surgery. One doctor told my mom that if she breast feeds me a lot and I gain weight, the hole may close. I sure hope that happens because both of us are doing our best under very tough circumstances and I sure do not want heart surgery.

My mom told Dr. John today that my three brothers and sisters and mom and I will be thrown out of our house here in Soleil unless she pays our landlord rent for the next six months. And she has to pay him in the next couple of days to prevent this from happening. I can tell she is nervous by the way she holds me and fidgets with me all the time.

One option is that my mom and I move in with my aunt in Laplaine. My aunt does not want my siblings because she has no “means” to keep them. But mom does not want my siblings to stay here in Soleil with anyone but her. We want to remain a family.

When mom told Dr. John this story today he offered to pay our rent with a donation made by a special friend of Dr. John’s named Cathy. For some reason Cathy has always been interested in my life, and because of her, we will be able to stay together as a family.

So, thank you Cathy. You made our day today. I can’t believe how lucky I am.

So I will sign out for now. There is much I cannot tell you about our life here. It is too dangerous to even think about let alone write about. Please pray for mom…she needs all the support she can get.